Wednesday: Retail Sales, FOMC Announcement, Homebuilder Survey, NY Fed Mfg

Wednesday:
• At 7:00 AM ET, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 8:30 AM, Retail sales for November will be released.  The consensus is for a 1.4% increase in retail sales.

• Also at 8:30 AM, The New York Fed Empire State manufacturing survey for December. The consensus is for a reading of 25.0, down from 30.9.

• At 10:00 AM, The December NAHB homebuilder survey. The consensus is for a reading of 84, up from 83. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

• At 2:00 PM, FOMC Meeting Announcement. The FOMC is expected to announce a faster taper pace for asset purchases.

• Also at 2:00 PM, FOMC Forecasts This will include the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants’ projections of the appropriate target federal funds rate along with the quarterly economic projections.

• At 2:30 PM, Fed Chair Jerome Powell holds a press briefing following the FOMC announcement.

And on COVID:

COVID Metrics
 
Today
Week
Ago
Goal

Percent fully Vaccinated
61.0%
—
≥70.0%1

Fully Vaccinated (millions)
202.5
—
≥2321

New Cases per Day3🚩
117,890
106,923
≤5,0002

Hospitalized3🚩
57,191
52,394
≤3,0002

Deaths per Day3🚩
1,147
1,095
≤502

1 Minimum to achieve “herd immunity” (estimated between 70% and 85%).
2my goals to stop daily posts,
37-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths
🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths
✅ Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of positive tests reported.